A New Series of Counterjihad Interviews With Elsa Schieder

Back in 2012 and 2013, Elsa Schieder released a series of interviews with some of the most important figures of the counterjihad movement, including Bill Warner, Robert Spencer, Nicolai Sennels, Andy Miller, and Mark Durie. The interviews were personal, revealing and inspiring.

Elsa is releasing a new series of interviews this month. To get access to these interviews, register here (it's free): Personal Journeys Toward Difficult Truths. You'll see a small registration form in the right sidebar.

The first set of interviews in the new series will become available July 28th. Elsa will post four interviews, one per day, from Monday to Thursday, at 8 pm EST. Each interview will be available for free for 48 hours. She will send a link to each interview to everyone who registers.

There will be another set of interviews in August, and the series could keep going. "The core focus of the interviews," says Elsa, "is activism." Here's what she says about the idea behind these interviews:

We start with ethics, with caring, with a sense of right and wrong.

But what do we do? A few people instantly become activists the moment they feel something is wrong. Far more of us are confused, uncertain, hesitant. We don't know what to do, what might work. We aren't sure what is real. Or we try things, but see that we're not getting our message through to people. Or we wish we knew how to do more.

Each month, I'll interview one "big name" person — someone widely known.

The other people are what I term "local heroes" — people who have found ways of reaching others in a smaller way.

This month the big name is Robert Spencer of JihadWatch, which has a worldwide reach. On top of that, he's published 13 books, including two New York Times bestsellers. His most recent book is Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About the War We’re In.

Then there's Rabbi Jonathan Hausman, of the Hausman Memorial Speakers Series. He's put his job on the line, by hosting, at the synagogue where he's the rabbi, a speaker series that includes Robert Spencer, Allen West … and even Geert Wilders of Fitna fame.

There's also Narain Kataria, who as a teenager experienced the partition of India. Over 1,000,000 Hindu and Sikh deaths. Now he aims to educate about the menace of terrorism all over the world — through the Indian American Intellectuals Forum, the Human Rights Coalition against Radical Islam, and more. Most of his activism has taken place after retirement — quite a common occurrence.

And who will be fourth?

It could be Chris Logan, of North American Infidels. He's a 12-year veteran of this war most people in the West refuse to recognize is happening. It could be Alexandra Belaire (Canada) or Daniel Scot (Australia) or Meir Weinstein (Canada) or Andrew Harrod (United States). It might even be Tamar Yonah, program director and talk show host at Israel National Radio. She's living "in the eye of the storm," Israel. Or it may well be Meir Weinstein (Canada), who has been organizing people to confront, for example, in pro-Hamas anti-Israel rallies.

In August, the "big name" person will be the remarkable Bill Warner, who has a PhD in Physics, but has dedicated himself to counter-jihad since 9/11.

Register here to get the link to the interviews.

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Apostates Leaving Islam

Apostasy means "renouncing the faith." If someone is a Jew or a Hindu or whatever and they decide they don't want to be one anymore, that is apostasy.

The Koran says apostasy from Islam is a crime punishable by death. In many Islamic states, this is enforced by law. You cannot convert out of Islam. Once you're in, you're in for good.

It takes a great deal of courage to leave Islam, and the book, Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out is a collection of first-hand accounts of what happens when a person renounces their belief in Islam. It'll give you an inside view of what it's like to be a Muslim. It makes for some surprising, eye-opening reading.

You can find out, in Leaving Islam, the many different ways Muslims around the world deal with the difficult decision to renounce the religion.

Probably the only way we're going to get a straight story about what Islam is like is by listening to apostates. They have been Muslims and know all about it, and yet they are not apologists for it. They aren't trying to sell you on it. And all the apostates have a very consistent point of view on Islam.

Of course, they are all against the religion's intolerance of apostates, but many of them do not hate Islam itself. But they can still be honest about what it's like to be a Muslim. It's fascinating reading and will give you lots of interesting stories to tell your friends, but Leaving Islam is also a great reference book. Appendix A is a large list of quotes showing the violence, hatred, and intolerance commanded by the Koran. These are what the orthodox Muslims believe in and these are the main reasons the apostates left the religion.

Appendix B is a list of web sites, organizations, and email addresses of groups who are trying to help create a secularization of Islamic societies and groups that promote freedom of thought and freedom of religion in general. Appendix D is a list of web sites critical of Islam. Appendix E is a bibliography of books critical of Islam.

This is a resource you can use.

Below is excerpted from the introduction to Leaving Islam:

There are very useful analogies to be drawn between communism and Islam...As Arthur Koestler said, "You hate our Cassandra cries and resent us as allies, but when all is said, we ex-Communists are the only people on your side who know what it's all about."

Communism has been defeated, at least for the moment; Islamism has not, and unless a reformed, tolerant, liberal kind of Islam emerges soon, perhaps the final battle will be between Islam and Western democracy. And these former Muslims, to echo Koestler's words, on the side of Western democracy are the only ones who know what it's all about, and we would do well to listen to their Cassandra cries.

Below is the description on the hardcover:

In the West, those who abandon their religion (apostates) find it to be a difficult, emotional decision that sometimes carries with it social repercussions, such as physical and psychological isolation from family, friends, and colleagues. However, in culturally diverse societies with a mixture of ethnic groups and various philosophies of life, most people look upon such intellectual shifts of allegiance as a matter of personal choice and the right of the individual. In stark contrast, the socially restricted Muslim world still views apostasy as an unthinkable act, and orthodox Muslims would consider it a crime punishable by death. Renowned scholar of Islamic Studies Bernard Lewis has described the seriousness of leaving the Islamic faith in dire terms: "Apostasy was a crime as well as a sin, and the apostate was damned both in this world and the next. His crime was treason — desertion and betrayal of the community to which he belonged, and to which he owed loyalty; his life and property were forfeit. He was a dead limb to be excised."

Defying the death penalty that all apostates potentially face in the Islamic world, the ex-Muslims represented here feel it is their duty to speak up against their former faith, to tell the truth about the fastest-growing religion in the world.

These former Muslims — some born into the faith; others, Western converts — from all parts of the Islamic world recount how they slowly came to realize that their religion was in many respects unbelievable and sometimes even dangerous.

These memoirs and journals of personal journeys to enlightenment and intellectual freedom make for moving reading and are a courageous signal to other ex-Muslims to openly express their views.

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Read The Koran

It is important to read the Koran for yourself. It says a lot about how Muslims should treat us, the "unbelievers." Sixty-one percent of the Koran is about kafirs (non-Muslims). You've heard orthodox Muslims quoting violent passages from the Koran. And you've also heard Muslims saying the orthodox have it wrong, and quoting peaceful passages.

Anyone talking about the Koran may have an agenda, may be biased, and may be deliberately distorting the contents. The only way to really know for sure what's true about the Islamic ideology to read it yourself.

But if you've ever tried to read it you know it's hard. Most English translations are in Old English — why, I have no idea — and the Koran repeats itself many times, making it difficult to stay awake while you read it. The chapters are arranged in order from the longest to the shortest chapter, rather than in chronological order, so it seems to jump around, which is confusing. And sometimes, because of the way the Koran is written, it's difficult to know who is speaking to who.

In addition, the Koran makes references to events in Mohammad's life, and of course, unless you know a lot about Mohammad, you won't know what these events refer to.

The version of the Koran I recommend fixes all these problems. A Simple Koran puts the passages in chronological order and translates it into modern, readable English. It also explains the events in Mohammad's life the Koran refers to, and makes it perfectly clear who is speaking to who.

An interesting thing comes to light in reading this version. Because the chapters are laid out in order, you can clearly see the progression from tolerance at first — tolerance of the Jews, and even seeking the approval of the Jews — to rejection of them and their "evil ways," to outright hatred, condemnation, and urging war against them.

The way the Koran is normally laid out, you would never notice this progression as the revelations changed.

But wait a minute, you might be thinking, the fact that his revelations changed means there are conflicting passage in the Koran, right? So can't believers pick and choose what they want? Unfortunately, the Koran itself tells the believer how to handle its own contradictions. It says if a revelation contradicts one that came before it, the new one overwrites the earlier one. This is the principle known as abrogation. The bad news for us infidels is that all the intolerant and violent passages abrogate the earlier tolerant and peaceful ones.

When reading this version in the order it was written, you can clearly see the passages get more and more violent and intolerant as Muhammad grew more politically powerful.

Reading the Koran is something you can do to help us achieve our goal of marginalizing, discrediting, and disempowering orthodox Islam. You'll be able to see through the deliberate confusion Jihadis create, and you can be a source of clarity for your fellow non-Muslims. A Simple Koran makes this important task much easier to accomplish.

The first three-fourths of the Koran is difficult to read because it is uninteresting. But then the book completely changes its tune. So when you're reading, just keep plowing away at it.

The reason it becomes interesting for non-Muslims is because the nature of Mohammad's revelations totally changed once he gained military power. When he first started out, when Islam was a small minority, Mohammad preached peace and semi-tolerance. But once he gained enough followers and started raiding caravans and gained military and financial power (from the booty he stole from the caravans), he stopped trying to curry favor with the Jews and Christians — once he was no longer afraid of them — and his revelations became intolerant and then downright hateful. Don't take my word for it. Don't take anybody's word for it! Find out for yourself.

UPDATE: I found an even better version of the Koran called An Abridged Koran. It's exactly the same as A Simple Koran and published by the same people (CSPI Publishing), except it consolidates all the repetition. The Koran is very repetitive. For example, the story of Moses and the Pharaoh is told in the original Koran 39 times! In An Abridged Koran, that story is only told once. The Koran is not very big when you take out all the repetition. Only 203 pages.

While you're educating your fellow non-Muslims about this dangerous ideology, you will speak with more authority and have greater success getting through their resistance once you have read the Koran.

Take the pledge: Read the Quran.

Learn the basic teachings of Islam right now in one article (written simply and clearly): Why is Islam so Successful?

Find out where to get a free (mainstream) Koran, and learn more about An Abridged Koran here: Chronological Order of the Qur'an (make sure you read the comments).

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Busy Night at the 3rd Street Promenade Information Table

A few days ago, a group of dedicated counterjihadists manned a booth on a public promenade on the first day of Ramadan. Are you wondering how it went? Here's a report by Louis Palme:

Saturday night was one of the busiest nights ever for the Counter-Jihad Coalition on the Santa Monica (California) pedestrian mall known as the Third Street Promenade. Volunteers were able to educate the public about the threat of Islamic terrorism at home and abroad and about how the creeping imposition of Islamic Sharia Law on Muslims as well as non-Muslims is a threat to our basic Constitutional guarantees. Over 200 pamphlets were handed out.

Many who stopped at our table wanted more information about ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham) and the Islamic terrorism occurring right now in Iraq. They seemed to be much more aware of these new developments than any previous Islamic terrorist outrages such as the Boston Marathon bombing with 267 casualties and the “Soldier of Allah” Nidal Hasan “workplace violence” that left 13 dead and another 30 injured.

The sign on our table and the cover for the principal handout tied the World Cup Soccer events with the terrorist organization ISIS using severed heads for soccer balls. It really got people’s attention. We have also begun to keep a tally of the annual Ramadan Bombathon, using graphics and data from TheReligionofPeace.com website. Last year, fasting Muslims managed to pull off 310 terror attacks causing 4,700 casualties around the globe in just one month. This year the prospects are even more horrific.

Over time the Counter-Jihad Coalition has developed a number of hard-hitting, factual brochures to help explain why the Islamist agenda and the norms of Sharia Law have no place in 21st Century America. Here is a sampling of some of the titles:

• An African-American Muslim is a Slave to a Racist Ideology
• Is It “Un-Christian” to Speak Out About Islam?
• Islam in a Nutshell
• Muslim Brotherhood in a Nutshell
• Sharia Law for Dummies
• The Three Stages of Jihad
• Violence in Islam
• What does Mohammed Say About Taking Non-Muslims As Friends?
• Women Who Marry Into Islam May be Required to Abandon All Their Natural Rights

Copies or Adobe files of these brochures can be obtained by contacting CounterJihadCoalition@gmail.com.

We also had a bit of competition — a rival Muslim table manned by bearded men wearing thobes and one woman in a full abaya. They were handing out shop-worn pamphlets obtained from www.whyislam.org, an operation managed by the ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood). At least two of the Muslims were new converts to Islam, and they actually knew very little about the Quran. We suspect their dawah service was part of their induction program.

We thanked them for wearing long beards and dressing up like the most notorious Muslim terrorists known in the U.S., namely, Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It just makes our message so much more credible.

For the next engagement at the Promenade, the Counter-Jihad Coalition is preparing a list of questions in response to their invitation to “Ask a Muslim.” The list has grown to over 50 Islamic imponderables. Here are just a few:

1. If the Quran is truly the word of Allah, why would asking questions about it cause you to lose faith? (See Surah 5:101-102)

2. If Allah leads people astray, is it “justice” that Allah should then punish them for that? (See Surahs 5:41, 7:155, 14:4, 16:53, and 6:149)

3. If Satan cannot harm anyone except with Allah’s permission, doesn’t that mean that all harm that comes to a person is Allah’s will? (See Surah 58:10)

4. If Jesus is to return on Judgment Day to judge mankind (per Surah 43:61 and Bukhari, Vol. 4, No. 657), wouldn’t it be better to follow the teachings of Jesus rather than the teachings of Muhammad and the Quran (which contains no teachings of Jesus)?

5. If Jesus had no sin (See Surah 3:35-36 and Bukhari, Vol. 4, No. 641) and if Muhammad had many sins (See Surah 47:19 and Bukhari Vol. 8, No. 319), why is Muhammad considered the “good example” (Surah 33:21) and emulated in preference to Jesus?

6. Is it true that Allah caused a man and his donkey to die, and then after 100 years he restored them exactly as they were the day they died? (See Surah 2:259)

7. Is it true that Adam (the first man) was 60 cubits (or about 90 feet) tall? (See Bukhari, Vol. 4, No. 543 )

8. Is it true that the earth is stationary and the sun goes down below the horizon into a murky pond? (See Surah 18:86)

9. Is it true that if you sleep during prayer time, Satan will urinate in your ears? (See Bukhari Vol. 2, No. 245)

10. Is it true that Muhammad was unsure of his own salvation on Judgment Day? (See Bukhari, Vol. 5, No. 266)

The Counter-Jihad Coalition can always use more volunteers who are somewhat knowledgeable about Islam, the Quran, and Sharia Law. Sometimes the debates with the public get lively, but our community is in dire need of straight talk about the ideology and practices of Islam. Contact our email address for more information.

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